$9 million mortgage taken out on former Hill & Dale Mall site in Northampton

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanThe former Hill & Dale mall is seen on King Street in Northampton.

NORTHAMPTON – Colvest-Northampton, a Connecticut-based group that is developing the former Hill & Dale Mall on King Street, has taken out a $9 million mortgage on the property, a sign some believe bodes well for a high quality project.

The 327 King Street parcel, a prime piece of commercial property on the King Street corridor, has been virtually unused since 1995, when the Price Chopper Supermarket there closed. The Glass family sold the property to Colvest in 2007 for $5.3 million. Although the company has a solid record of development in the area, work on the King Street parcel has been slow, due mainly to differences between the owner and the city over zoning issues.

Many of those differences have been resolved, however, some by virtue of a new zoning plan for King Street that will remove some of the onerous requirement concerning setbacks and parking. The city is also close to installing a traffic light on King Street that will help motorists get safely in and out of the property.

Colvest had previously been granted a $3.5 million mortgage from Berkshire Bank for the project. Last month it upped the ante by securing a $9.1 million mortgage from Florence Savings Bank, giving the company plenty of money to use as it develops the site. Colvest president Frank Colaccino said Monday he expects work to begin in the fall.

As presently envisioned, the project will include an expanded Firestone Tire building at the edge of the lot and the addition of a bank. Colaccino did not identify the bank but said it is one that does not currently have a presence in Northampton.

Work will also begin on the large building at the rear of the property. After Price Chopper closed, the 65,000-square-foot building housed a flea market for a short time, but it has fallen into a state of deterioration. Colaccino said he expects to have several commercial tenants in the building.

“We’re going to clean it up and make it look a lot more attractive,” he said.

Colaccino said Colvest is also going to dress up the front of the property with landscaping and other touches.

“I think you’ll all be happy,” he said of the community.

Although he acknowledged that he has looked at the adjacent Kollmorgen property, which is on the market for $4 million, Colaccino had nothing else to say on that topic. Vacant since Kollmorgen moved its operation to Village Hill this year, the addition of the site to the Hill & Dale parcel would greatly increase development options.

Patrick M. Goggins of Goggins Real Estate Agency said the size of Colvest’s new loan indicates the company is invested in the site for the long haul.

“It does nothing but reinforce the quality of what I would expect to happen there,” he said.

Goggins also noted that $9 million is a large loan for Florence Savings Bank, an indication that the bank has faith in the project.

“They do a tremendous amount of due diligence,” he said. “Anytime you’re able to secure that kind of loan, you don’t do it on the back of a napkin.”

The project is unfolding amidst prospective changes in the zoning along King Street. Long a bone of contention between planners and the developers who felt it was too restrictive, the zoning ordinances have been under scrutiny for the last year-and-a-half by various boards and the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. The recommendations that have come out of that discussion are aimed at dividing King Street into three districts, each with rules pertaining to its unique character. The City Council is due to vote on some of those changes at its meeting on Thursday.

Goggins said all of King Street could get a boost from a well-done project on the old Hill & Dale Mall site.

“I’m reasonably optimistic about King Street,” he said. “It’s important to have some tax revenue from that part of the city.”